Tag Archives: Pacific Seafood

Frustrations grew Tuesday as crabbers and processors continued drawn-out negotiations over 2018’s opening price for Dungeness crab. All was silent in the Ilwaco channel and Port of Chinook in recent days when boats ordinarily would have been noisily traveling back and forth to crabbing grounds. No lights bobbed on the ocean off the Long Beach Peninsula. Commercial crab harvesting was set to open Monday south of the Klipsan Beach line, but price negotiations and ocean conditions are keeping boats in port. >click here to read<15:08

In the two weeks since Pacific Seafood announced it would consolidate its dominant position on Newport’s Bayfront with the acquisition of two additional fish processing plants, the deal has generated more litigation than fish fillets. On Thursday, two companies who claim Pacific illegally conspired with its competitors to lock them out of the Newport seafood processing business, filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court to undo the transactions. The lawsuit alleges Pacific, under the leadership of third-generation Chief Executive Officer Frank Dulcich, acquired three properties on Newport’s Yaquina Bay in the past 23 months even though the plaintiffs offered more money. click here to read the story 08:17

From Pacific Seafood: Thanks to quick action by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, Newport’s surimi processing plant, the last such plant on the West Coast, will remain in Newport and open in time for the 2017 Whiting season, which starts on Monday. The Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) reviewed a proposal by Pacific Seafood to keep the plant open and word came today that it’s a green light. Governor Kate Brown and the Legislature’s Coastal Caucus, including Senator Arnie Roblan, Senator Betsy Johnson, and Representative David Gomberg, were instrumental in facilitating review in time for the season start. “We very much appreciate the Governor and Attorney General’s leadership in addressing this extraordinary situation,” said Dan Occhipinti, a spokesman for Pacific Seafood. “They moved quickly to reach a solution that saves 147 traded-sector jobs, retains the market for Newport’s commercial fishing fleet, and preserves Oregon’s access to a major export market.” click here to read the story 09:27

A federal court order blocking Pacific Seafood Group from purchasing Ocean Gold Seafoods will remain until a trial into whether the sale would create a monopoly. Commercial fishermen won a preliminary injunction against the sale last year in U.S. District Court in Medford. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s order Tuesday. The fishermen allege that Pacific Seafood’s acquisition of Ocean Gold, a large fish processor in Westport, Washington, would establish a monopoly in the groundfish, whiting and coldwater shrimp markets. “Fishermen in Warrenton and Astoria have a significant stake in this battle,” Haglund said. “If Pacific Seafood were successful in acquiring Ocean Gold, industry sources tell us that the Warrenton plant will never be rebuilt and would be little more than a landing station.” Read the story here 14:00

This fund has been set up for my mother, Genny Pavan. We are currently trying to raise any money we can for her during this difficult time. The money will be used to help her with financial struggles she has endured since the loss of her spouse Doug. Her lights are on the verge of being turned off, and is months behind in other bills. She has basically been left on her own, with no help and broken promises. As many of us already know, in September Doug tragically lost his life fishing off the coast of Tofino while aboard the Caledonian when the boat suddenly capsized. Please read the rest here , and please donate if you can. Related articles – Caledonian Tragedy Family Relief Fund click, – For: Wes Hegglund, Keith Standing, Doug White – There appears to be a problem with the Caledonian Tragedy Family Relief Fund click

After a two-year armistice, the legal warfare has resumed between Pacific Seafood Group and a handful of Oregon commercial fishermen who claim the large Clackamas company abuses its market power. The fishermen sued Pacific Seafood Thursday claiming the company violated terms of the 2012 settlement of an earlier class-action anti-trust lawsuit. The fishermen are seeking a temporary restraining order to block Pacific Seafood’s pending acquisition of a Westport, Wash.-based fish processing company. Read the rest here 21:42

For local crab fishermen, it’s all about unity. United, they can keep their boats docked and try to negotiate a higher price for their product. Divided, they will fall like dominoes, and set out on the water ready to take whatever buyers are offering. With the season having opened a week ago, negotiations are currently at a standstill. In fact, according to some, it’s hard to even call what’s going on negotiations. ”The buyers have offered $2.50 (a pound), we’ve asked $3, and those numbers haven’t changed,” said local fisherman Dave Bitts. Meanwhile, fishermen in Oregon and Washington, where regulators postponed the season because tests showed Dungeness crab there to be too small, are readying to start fishing Dec. 15, adding a new layer of complexity to local negotiations.[email protected] 18:17

Workers at a Pacific Seafood processing plant near Astoria are racing to finish modifications on a borrowed plant, after a devastating fire last week. The fishing season is in full swing and Pacific Seafood has made a quick pivot to keep production rolling. [email protected] Public Broadcasting

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

The plan, dubbed Fishing Safety Now, was developed by the Safe Sea Alliance- a group composed of fishermen, their families, industry representatives, safety organizations and the government. Read More »

The Pacifical tuna is skipjack tuna caught from wild schools (rather than using Fish Aggregating Devices or FADs) and carries the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel. [email protected]Read More »